…because between writing, editing, admin and housework commitments, the to-do list has been pretty long this week, and so today has been as busy as the last two. I feel as though I’m getting a lot done though, which is great, and I’m still managing to make time for a bit of videogaming at the end of the day.
Today’s minor irritation was an interior door handle that has suddenly become loose and refuses to tighten up again. One more thing to look for when we brave the social distancing queues at B&Q later in the week!
Tomorrow is a ‘less admin, more writing’ day, which I’m looking forward to.
This week’s ‘next door’s cat’ photo. Our wheelie bins provide a good vantage point.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Traditional – ‘Morning Has Broken’ Duran Duran – ‘Ball Of Confusion’ Vera Lynn – ‘We’ll Meet Again’ Roxette – ‘Dangerous’ Roy Zimmerman & The ReZisters and Sandy Riccardi – ‘The Liar Tweets Tonight’ Paula Abdul – ‘Straight Up’
…because I’m planning to do some slightly longer routes over the weekend. We’ll see how I get on!
I feel like I’ve settled into my new daily routine now – and after nearly four weeks of lockdown, I suppose it’s not really ‘new’ anymore. Today is a lighter day work- and admin-wise, so I’m looking forward to getting on with my videogames from this afternoon onwards.
I also have some tentative new plans for future Sunday blogs. Watch this space.
‘Pictures of next door’s cat in our garden’ will probably become a regular thing over the course of this lockdown. He’s taken to sneaking in through the front door when I get back from my morning run, so ‘pictures of next door’s cat on our staircase’ may also become a thing if I remember to take them.
Today’s earworm playlist:
The Beatles – ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ Elbow – ‘One Day Like This’ Cast of The Lion King – ‘Circle Of Life’ Sacre – ‘The London Marathon’ Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Road Trippin”
I went out for an absolutely beautiful run this morning…
…with perfect sunshine, and perfect energy, and so many lovely spring flowers along the way. I’m planning to do a few new and different routes this week and am really excited about my morning runs. They get me out of the house for just long enough every day that I don’t feel trapped or cooped up by the lockdown, and am perfectly content to stay inside for the rest of the time.
In all honesty, other than the general feeling of apocalyptic dread and accompanying nightmares (which I’m guessing is the case for everyone at the moment), I have been lucky enough that the current situation is working out quite well for me:
While my day job work has slowed down a bit, it hasn’t stopped completely, and I work from home anyway so haven’t had to adapt my work setup.
Obviously I was hugely disappointed a month ago when it was announced that the London Marathon was postponed, because training had been going so well. However, I’m really appreciating the more relaxed approach to running I can take at the moment, and I hope that I’ll be able to build on the work I’ve already done and run an even better time in October, presuming the new date goes ahead.
Stress-wise, I am actually benefiting hugely from life going on hold. For the last couple of years, I have felt as though I have had far too much on and have been constantly falling behind with my to-do list. I end up dreading going away on trips, because I know it will disrupt my daily routine so badly and lead to weeks of stress as I try to catch up with everything. But right now, I have nothing getting in the way: all my trips and events have been cancelled or postponed, and all my weekly classes and meetings are on hold. Every day is exactly the same, and for me, it turns out that that is exactly what I need. I am going to have to do some serious thinking about what life is going to look like for me after the lockdown is over.
I feel pretty guilty that it has taken a horrible worldwide pandemic for me to have the free time I’ve been dreaming of for years, but it has given me the impetus to reassess my priorities in life.
Tomorrow is a Wednesday, but that doesn’t really matter right now. I’ve got no middling-distance midweek run to do, no ukulele class to go to, no worries about fitting everything else in inbetween. It will be very similar to today, and that is absolutely fine by me.
Another paparazzo shot of next door’s cat exploring our garden. He’s a little confused by theshorter grass now that Geth is out mowing it regularly again.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Cast of The Lion King – ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight?’
…because I slept late again and I had quite a lot of day job work to do today, so there wasn’t much time left for running. I had hoped that my sleep pattern might have returned to normal by now, but my body decided it needed nine and a half hours last night. Geth and I are setting an alarm so we can do the online parkrun quiz at 9am tomorrow morning, so hopefully that will help with the sleep issue.
I’ll try and get a small amount of work done on my text adventure game (I find it’s better to keep a daily streak going for Camp NaNo even if it’s just a few words), and then return to my 3DS this evening.
The spring weather has resulted in the gravel in our back garden getting warmer, which has in turn resulted in next door’s cat remembering that it’s a good place to sit down and have a wash.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Village Hidden In A Mountain’ Traditional – ‘The Music Man’ Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Call Me Maybe’ Fleetwood Mac – ‘The Chain’
…and then I spent the afternoon doing housework and admin. Mum and Dad are visiting tomorrow so I’m looking forward to a nice time with them.
Next door’s cat is being especially persistent about trying to get into our house at the moment. I’m not sure if it’s because something smells particularly interesting in here or if his own humans are out more than usual!
A rainbow made an appearance this afternoon. A bit prettier than our recent weather!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Scandroid – ‘Aphelion’ Gunship – ‘Art3mis And Parzival’ Rihanna – ‘Diamonds’ FM-84 and Ollie Wride – ‘Running In The Night’ Ollie Wride – ‘Back To Life’ Rihanna and Drake – ‘What’s My Name?’
Have mainly spent today getting my poems ready for the poetry night tonight and working on the preparation for one of my autumn writing projects. Have also spent a lot of time cuddling with next door’s cat (his humans are home this evening so I don’t expect he’ll come in as often now, but it has been nice!), and getting a bit more videogaming in.
I’m not anywhere near as nervous as I usually am before poetry night – maybe I’m getting more used to performing? I hope so!
OOTD: ready for heading out and reading some poems! Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), hoodie Uneek Classic for Mesh (2016), t-shirt Amplified (2018), jeans Miss Selfridge (2018).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Gunship – Dark All Day Trevor Something – Summer Love Duran Duran – The Chauffeur
I’ve had a fairly quiet one today. Yesterday was a fun but long day – I went to an ’80s nostalgia mini-festival at the Wheatsheaf pub in Newcastle in the afternoon so that I could see the Breakfast Club (the ’80s tribute band that played at South Shields a few weeks ago) again.
I was probably the closest person to the stage, but it was still difficult to see the band under that marquee. I reckon the venue were expecting rain!
Geth joined me for the second half of the gig, as well as some pub chips!
Both the Breakfast Club’s guitarist and the DJ complimented me on my ‘Rio’ top. Duranies represent!
After that, we went home to get ready for a night out clubbing. It took a little longer than expected, largely because our next-door neighbours are away and so their cat wants a lot of attention at the moment!
Cat cuddles are the BESTEST.
We took a quick detour to the Brewdog pub to meet up with friends and see the Re-Issues – yet another covers band! They had a lot of energy and really worked up a good atmosphere in the room.
More blurry gig photography. Highlights of this covers set included ‘Town Called Malice’, ‘Zombie’, ‘Sit Down’ and ‘Mr Brightside’.
Finally, we headed to Grey’s for the Rise Or Die synthwave night, NightDrive. It’s only the second time they’ve run the night (the first was four months ago, on Maundy Thursday), so it was really good to be able to hear some of my synthwave favourites on a night out.
Photo by Mish. I forgot to take a proper photo of my going-out outfit – will have to recreate it sometime soon!
I’m still finding nights out sober to be a bit difficult when everyone else is drinking, but hopefully I’ll get more used to it as time goes on. Either way, it would be nice if synthwave nights in Newcastle became a little more regular.
It was a long walk home from town (next time I’m taking the car!), so I didn’t get to bed until nearly 5am. As such, today has been a bit of a write-off! Geth and I ordered Domino’s for something to eat, and our friend Pete has been round to play some Keyforge with Geth, but we’re planning just to have a quiet evening with a film tonight.
Back to work tomorrow.
OOTD: ‘still half asleep’ outfit! T-shirt Gildan for Preverse (2015, modified 2018), leggings Miss Fiori (2015), boots Carefree (2017).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Timecop1983 and Primo – My DeLorean Timecop1983 and The Bad Dreamers – Back To You The Midnight and Nikki Flores – Jason Rod Stewart – Baby Jane The Midnight – Crystalline
I’ve had a good, productive day today – lots of day job work finished, lots of admin done, another dance class ticked off (I’m already getting the hang of it again better than I was last week). Also, the in-laws have been here sorting out our garden, and I’m really excited for it to be finished tomorrow!
Geth is out boardgaming this evening, but once he gets back we’re going to finish off our Good Omens rewatch.
Looking forward to a similar day tomorrow.
Not an OOTD: another Monday spent in workout gear, another Monday where I didn’t remember to take a photo of it before showering and changing back into my pyjamas! Instead, here’s our garden, with the decking looking all clean and treated. On the fence there’s a bonus sighting of two of the enormously fat pigeons who hang around our garden (next door’s cat isn’t much of a hunter, probably because of the constant racket he makes miaowing all the time).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Gunship – The Mountain Aerds – Deadline Duran Duran – Do You Believe In Shame? Andy Taylor – I Might Lie Duran Duran – (Reach Up For The) Sunrise Loreen – Euphoria Tyler Lyle – Lost And Found [The Midnight Remix] Duran Duran – The Edge Of America Duran Duran – (I’m Looking For) Cracks In The Pavement Duran Duran – The Reflex Sia – Chandelier Lauv and Troye Sivan – I’m So Tired
It’s been a very productive day of editing my book. Just five more chapters left and then I’ll be able to send it out on Friday! I’m going to be so happy next week when I can work on projects that are not this one. I think it was a strong sign that I would rather be working on other things when I took a break for lunch today and my brain immediately came up with five different ideas for new novels!
No ukulele class this evening as we’re on (delayed) half term, so I’m going to catch up with a bit of writing instead.
OOTD: laughing at the off-camera antics of next door’s cat, who came to investigate when Geth was taking the picture! Jumper unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017), jeans Zara (2018), boots Carefree (2017).
Bonus ‘next door’s cat’ picture. He wears the same outfit every day!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Ariana Grande – Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored Duran Duran – A View To A Kill Jason Donovan – Too Many Broken Hearts Duran Duran – Friends Of Mine Eighth Wonder – Cross My Heart Nik Kershaw – Wouldn’t It Be Good Howard Jones – Hide And Seek
